Lots of Reasons to Eat Blueberries

You always hear about blueberries being the richest food source of antioxidants, but you hardly ever see any research on them. Well, here’s two recent studies that give you lots of good reasons to eat blueberries. . . . 

Blood Pressure & Blood Flow
Forty-eight post-menopausal women were given either 22g of freeze dried blueberry powder or a placebo powder for 8 weeks. The blueberry powder was the equivalent of eating a cup of blueberries a day. The blueberry significantly lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It also improved arterial stiffness and raised levels of nitric oxide, which is important for improving blood flow (J Acad Nutr Diet 2015;115:369-77).

Blood Pressure & Immunity
When 25 people were given either a placebo or blueberry powder equivalent to 250g of blueberries a day for 6 weeks, their natura killer cell activity increased significatly on the blueberry powder. Arterial stiffness and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly. Diastolic blood pressure was also significantly reduced in people who actually had high blood pressure (Nutr Res 2014;34:577-84).

Taken together, these studies show that eating blueberries is healthy for your heart and your immune system.